Parents journeyed through the Lower School and learned about countries around the world during the annual Global Studies Celebration. Each grade was provided an age-appropriate theme to discover their shared humanity while they investigated the world and strived to understand new perspectives.

Grade 1 students explored the question, “How do human actions affect the biodiversity of coral reefs?” Julia Rachinsky-Wood’s class built a model coral reef using art materials and expressed their learning by creating models out of recycled materials, blocks, pasta, and other items in the classroom for the celebration. 

“Having the children focus on a theme across multiple countries was a great idea. It was interesting to see how the children all focused on different facts from their regions of interest and built their models to reflect what they found fascinating or important,” said Chika Bedu-Addo, whose son, Adom Bedu-Addo, is in Grade 4.

The fifth grade focused on the driving question, “How does the way we shape the world inadvertently shape us?” The class used Thailand as a case study. 

“Having the experience of traveling through the Global Studies Celebration allowed me to understand Thailand from the student's perspective,” said King parent Patty Diaz. “The children were inspired by the country's rich history, the monarchy, the symbolism of the elephant, and Thailand’s colorful culture,” she added.  

As the guests explored the different classrooms, they learned new facts about the world from the student experts. “I appreciated how each of the groups introduced their countries by using comparisons so that we could understand the size and scale of the countries. For example, Sweden has as many people as New York City, or Kenya being about the size of California,” said King parent Ted Sisko. “The effort and excitement that each of the groups shared through both their presentations and creativity were absolutely amazing,” Sisko added.